Intel Plans CPU Naming Change

Jemm writes "According to The Globe and Mail, Intel will start using performance numbers rather than clock speed to number their chips. 'Under the model number system, processors will be given numbers to describe their performance, in addition to being described as running at 2GHz or other speed.'"

introducing the new....

[Zeppelingb]

Wicked Fast 7 million chip!

Just do double AMD

[Anonymous Coward]

AMD 3700+ = Intel 7400+

Re:Payback

[flewp]

I think you mean what matters is Real Ultimate Power.

In the future, your computer will:
1) Be a mammal.
2) Fight ALL the time.
3) Flip out and kill people.

Finally!

[orkysoft]

Will they finally call the Pentium 4 3.2GHz a Pentium 4 2.4? Their fmul/fdiv operations take twice as long as on the Pentium 3, after all.

If not, they're a bunch of hypocrites.

Re:It might just be time for....

[Canadian1729]

It probably is time for a standard, it will need a group to oversee it and make sure the CPU makers post fair speed ratings. Maybe we should let ICANN handle it since they're doing such a great job with domain names :)

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Selling the sizzle

[Spriggig]

I imagine their ads will start sounding like razor commercials. "Introducing the new and improved 'Mach 19'! Now in candy-apple red and midnight blue!"

Re:It might just be time for....

[AndroidCat]

Yeah, but then they'd hand the actual job off to Verisign, who'd claim that they owned all unused clock cycles.

So what naming scheme to use...

[miu]

Tall, grande, Venti?...

Yeah! Maybe Intel should do the Mhz in Italian. Then they could sell to those Mac people, they like European stuff and stuff.

Or anime hyperobole. The 'super mega ultra rating' vs the 'super ultra mega excellent rating'.

Re:Payback

[janbjurstrom]

Lol, good one.

And indeed, the upcoming bullshit/branding/naming meta-wars are cool; and by cool I mean totally sweet.

Extreme

[An-Unnecessarily-Lon]

I hope they name them Extreme something. Cause everyone knows that things are better when they are EXTREME!

=Engrish!

[Anonymous Coward]

"This processor is made for the extreme priority the good looks. The sharp socket which electrifies well is contained generously within..."

It's Bitchin Fast!

[irokitt]

Obviously related to the Bitchin-Fast 3D 2000 [dv8.org]. Quite a product. Capable of over 400 Bungholio Marks!

Re:Payback

[iminplaya]

What really matters is real power.

Yeah, and Intel consumes plenty of that. :-)

Re:Payback

[Bombcar]

Just wait for the Mac users to come in and say that the Dual G5 is like a steamshovel when compared to the kids.

And as I Gentoo user, I'll just have to point out that my shovel was compiled with -fomit-instructions and -fomit-marketing, and is 10x faster than your shovel.

[/joke]

Re:Finally!

[GigsVT]

I'm glad they are taking their time with fdiv operations, knowing their history. :)

sure

[null-sRc]

help consumers compare chips on a "good," "better" and "best" basis

if they are refering to celeron as good, p4ee (emergency edition) as better, and xeon as best...

then the translation would be:
slow, good, and waste of money respectivly. ;)

What's this accomplish?

[sparkie]

Well, when Intel starts dishing out their performance rating, they're gonna have to call their new P4 5.0GHz a P4 3000+ :)

Re:Well...

[FatherOfONe]

Ok, what he wants is to know is two things.
1. That Microsoft Word will now open from cache in .1 second as apposed to 2 seconds. A 100% increase in speed!!!
2. That FPS game *.* will get an extra 5FPS in 640x480. Granted he will never play it at that level. :-)

GiggleHertz (tm)

[Caractacus Potts]

I always referred to AMD's numbers as being in GiggleHertz. I propose this term be used for the Intel chips as well.

Re:Problem..

[LostCluster]

Do nonsense numbers have to double every 18 months for the sake of being a Moore's Law compliant statistic?

Re:Problem..

[Anonymous Coward]

What you'd get were CPUs that were very good at benchmarks, and not so hot at other stuff.

They're called Macs.

Re:Payback

[Jugalator]

Hehe, I'm so proud of myself that I got this joke :)

Uh, or maybe not ;)

Re:Payback

[dackroyd]

I think what you mean is that in the future your computer will be designed be an Electrical Engineer [rpi.edu].

EEs can calculate anything they want! EEs calculate ALL the time and don't even think twice about it.

Re:Well...

[Jugalator]

Well, maybe what they should do is a model number that have no relationship to its performance. Just pick arbitrary cool numbers like "Intel P100A" with "P" for "Processor", and "100A" for the first processor in a "100-series", etc.

Same goes for AMD btw. I think it would be good if there was NO CLUE given in the processor mode name of their performance (other than that "this 200 series is much better than the former 100 series!"). That would force the customers to actually look which is better and not be fooled by the designers. But it's probably bad from the company's marketing perspective...

Patent?

[dreamchaser]

Given the current problems with patent madness, how long will it be before someone files something like 'Method to describe the relative performance of a microprocessor architecture using a multi-tiered numbering system independant of the architecture clock speed'?

For the sarcasm imparied, I'm semi-joking. Still, I'd not be surprised if something like that was tried. Patenting something silly like 'single click purchasing' soundes ridiculous too after all.

Re:Problem..

[devnulljapan]

I think we should just settle down and refer to it as the Intel USB 2 Really Fast (TM) [slashdot.org] processor. That'll clear things up.

Re:Okay, here we go...

[dukeisgod]

*foom* That is the sound of a cycling reference flying over the heads of the average /.'er.

Use the WifeMark benchmark

[theCat]

Around my house, any new purchase must score high on the WifeMark, which is a complex combined index of software and hardware performance. The benchmark is simply my wife's reaction to me maxing out the credit card again on a computer. The levels are:

"Feels about as fast as what I have now. And last time she almost killed me for buying a new box."

"Nice, seems faster, but the wife will kill me if I spend this kind of money for nothing special."

"Damn that's fast. I want. She's just going to have to deal with it."

I've been using that benchmark for years. I don't even look at the official numbers. Once it gets to the point where the kit I run now is clearly sh*t for anything normal, I upgrade. Just come home one day with a new box and figure she'll come around.

Got a Mac G4/466 right now, specifically to run OSX. She likes OSX. Before that a used 7600/200 (G2ish) because web browsing got slow and she likes web browsing. Before that a Quadra 630 (486/33ish) because it was best for desktop publishing and we were big into that at the time. Before that, I owned a SE/30 (386/16ish) but that was before we were married. For sure, I more than double performance each time, noticing when something is finally "damn fast" for what is currently important and figuring it scores high on the WifeMark.

Happy with the G4 running Panther, it does email and web browsing and web development work Real Well (as does the 7600 to be honest, but no OSX for that one). I'll upgrade the G4/466 chip someday, maybe when I can get a G4/2000 for cheap on EBay. But otherwise I might run this box for a long time as I can't see anything coming along that scores highly on the WifeMark.

BTW, I still have all the machines listed above. Old Macs never die, they just become web servers.

Re:Extreme

[osobear]

No, no it needs to be eXtreme, with a captical 'X'. Capital letters make everything more eXtreme!

Leaked naming secrets from Intel

[Wolfier]

CPU rollout roadmap:

Q3 2004: Pentium Fast
Q2 2005: Pentium Really Fast
Q4 2005: Pentium Reeeeeeeaaally Fast
Q2 2006: Pentium Flies
Q4 2006: Pentium 0wnz

Re:Problem..

[IntelliTubbie]

Do nonsense numbers have to double every 18 months for the sake of being a Moore's Law compliant statistic?

Of course! Linux distributions have been doing this for years. That's why my "Linux 10.0" can mop the floor with your paltry Linux 2.6.

Cheers,
IT

whoosh

[BorgCopyeditor]

There are some things that are true, but cannot yet be seen.

Is that so? Care to back that up with a link?

Misread the subject

[AvantLegion]

When I saw the subject line, I thought, "the Sextium, finally!"

Re:Payback

[Jozer99]

I dont know what matters anymore. Intel keeps telling me that MHz matter, AMD says performance, but they don't ever say what kind, and Apple keeps telling me that all that matters is THEM! I'm switching to ARM9.

Another Page

[DarkOx]

Wow, at this rate intel is going to lift AMD's entire playbook. AMD must be doing something right.

Oh yes

[Anonymous Coward]

Intel plans to give future cpus names that don't rhyme with "Titanic".